GLOBAL MARKETS-Fed comments lift dollar, weigh on Treasuries, stocks

Redacción de Reuters

4 MIN. DE LECTURA

(Updates to U.S. market close)
* Brent stabilizes near $50 a barrel after 5 pct drop
* Euro hits two-week low versus greenback
* Utilities lead declines on Wall Street
By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar rose on Tuesday,
while stocks and Treasuries prices fell after comments from a
top Federal Reserve official brought forward market expectations
of an interest rate increase.
Oil prices edged higher despite the stronger greenback,
bouncing back from Monday's rout.
The dollar rose sharply against the euro after Federal
Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart, a member of
the Fed's policy setting committee who typically votes with the
core, told the Wall Street Journal it would take a sharp turn
for the worst in economic data to change his view in support of
a rate hike after the mid-September meeting.
Markets have been preparing for a rate hike, which would be
the first in nearly a decade. Friday's U.S. payrolls numbers are
key as traders try to time the Fed's next move. The U.S. economy
is expected to have created 223,000 jobs in July, on par with
job creation in June, according to economists polled by Reuters.
"All the world's central banks have pumped unprecedented
amounts of liquidity; if has not created an inflationary
event, a pullback may create the opposite," said Paul
Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial
Services in Charlotte, Vermont.
"You run the risk of triggering a deflationary event and
that's what markets are fearing."
On Wall Street, utilities stocks, sharply sensitive to
Treasury yields, were the worst performers among the 10 S&P 500
industry groups. Apple's stock, down in 10 of the last
11 sessions, weighed heavily on major Wall Street indexes.
At the close on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial
average was down 47.51 points, or 0.27 percent, to
17,550.69, the S&P 500 lost 4.72 points, or 0.22 percent,
to 2,093.32 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 9.84
points, or 0.19 percent, to 5,105.55.
A measure of stocks in major markets globally
fell 0.1 percent. Nikkei futures were
little changed.
CONSTANT FED WATCH
The euro fell against the U.S. dollar for the fifth session
in the last six to hit a two-week low after Lockhart's comments.
The currency lost 0.6 percent at $1.0885.
"(Lockhart) is seen as a swing vote and he has become
increasingly hawkish," said Ian Gordon, G10 currency strategist
at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York.
U.S. crude rose and copper edged up despite the stronger
greenback, but the outlook for commodities continued to be
clouded by worries about a slowdown in China, the world's
second-largest economy. Oil is also weighed down by oversupply
concerns.
Brent added 1.2 percent to $50.12 a barrel and U.S.
crude gained 1.6 percent to $45.89 a barrel.
"A retest of Brent crude's 2015 low around $45 per barrel
looks inevitable given current ample market supply and
intensifying bearish market sentiment toward prices," BMI
Research said in a note.
The Thomson Reuters/CoreCommodity CRB index rose
0.8 percent after hitting a more-than-12-year low on Monday.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes were last down
20/32 in price to yield 2.223 percent, from a yield of 2.152
percent late on Monday. U.S. 30-year bonds were last
down 24/32 in price to yield 2.898 percent, from a yield of
2.861 percent late on Monday.
(Additional reporting by Richard Leong, Barani Krishnan and Sam
Forgione; Editing by Chris Reese and Dan Grebler)